The future of Barnes Air National Guard Base appeared, first, as two tiny specs on the horizon.
Then two $78 million F-35s grew quickly into shapes recognizable as aircraft, but resembling something out of Star Wars. The F-35A Lightning II Demonstration Team arrived Tuesday and will be the main attraction of the Westfield International Air Show Saturday and Sunday.
The planes – capable of flying Mach 1.6 – came in over the base and Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport and got low before speeding up and peeling off to the west and south, before coming around again to land.
“That wasn’t a show,” said the pilot of one of those jets, Maj. Kristin “BEO ” Wolfe, commander of the F-35A Lightning II Demonstration Team. That squad is part of the 388th Fighter Wing based in Hill Air Force Base in Utah. “I try not to get into trouble.”
The team performed at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia last weekend.
What the two pilots were doing in the F-35s, she said, is surveying an unfamiliar airfield, looking for any obstacles and memorizing the terrain with a few of what she called “easy” turns. Then they did a low approach, coming in with gear down as if they were going to land, before coming in for a real landing.
“I always tell little kids it’s like flying a roller coaster,” Wolfe said. “You are the only one in there. You can do whatever you want, as long as you are following the rules.”
Last month, the Air Force announced that Westfield and the Air National Guard’s 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes will get 18 of the F-35 fighter jets starting in late 2025 or early 2026. The new jets will replace its aging fleet of F-15s, guaranteeing the future of the base and the 104th for 40 years.
“It’s cool having the newest airplane,” Wolfe said.
Tuesday’s arrival offered a taste of the real show she plans to put on this weekend. Though two planes arrived Tuesday from last weekend’s air show at Langley Air Force Base, Wolfe will perform alone, joining a World War II P-38 Lightning only at the end to dramatize the past and future of the Air Force.
“The F-35 is awesome because it’s the latest and greatest fifth-generation fighter that we are still producing to this day,” Wolfe said. “Everything new that comes out gets retrofitted onto this airplane.”
Wolfe said she’ll also be available on the ground between shows to meet people and answer questions.
Members of the Vermont Air National Guard, from the F-35 base at Burlington International Airport, will also be on hand to answer questions, said the 104th’s Lt. Col. Stephen “Steagle” Mindek, air show director. The public will be able to get within about 20 feet of the aircraft.
An F-15 pilot, Mindek said he’s excited to have the F-35s at the air show and to have them coming to Westfield permanently.
He loves the F-15. “Now you are taking a generational leap in survivability,” he said. “Stealth is the name of the game.”
There will also be cargo and combat aircraft flying and on static display, including the F-15, an Air Force A-10C Thunderbolt II and a Coast Guard HC-144 Ocean Sentry. There will be civilian air acrobatics performers and heritage units with World War II aircraft.
The Army Golden Knights Parachute team will perform. The show will also feature the Liberty Jump Team World War II paratrooper re-enactors.
“At the end of the day, I’m a pilot and I love aviation,” Mindek said. “I’m an aviation nerd. And we enjoy the opportunity to show off our base.”
Highway signs warning of traffic congestion are already up on Interstate 90 and 91 and on routes 10 and 202 outside the base.
Mindek said planning for this air show, the base’s first since 2017, was interrupted by COVID.
There are plans in place to park cars and move traffic. “Our mantra is the earlier the better,” he said of arriving visitors.
They’ve sold about 9,000 parking passes and expect 20,000 to 30,000 visitors on Saturday and again on Sunday.
“If you have a parking pass, that means you have a parking spot here,” he said. “The sooner you get here, the closer you will be.”
Parking for general admission and VIP begins at 7 a.m. on both days. Gates open at 8 a.m. with air demonstrations beginning at 10 a.m. and continuing to about 3:30 p.m.
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